Digital routes to care delivery would become more accepted by both, consumers and providers: CEO, Manipal Hospitals

Not just healthcare, rebuilding the economy would be a medium-term effort and this crisis is also an opportunity for India to position itself investment destination in the region.

ETHealthWorld

Updated: May 23, 2020, 07:00 IST

By Smridhi Uppal

In an interaction with EThealthworld, Mr. Dilip Jose, Managing Director & CEO, Manipal Hospitals, Bengaluru talks about how Covid19 has impacted the private hospitals and the way forward.

How do you see the impact of COVID 19 on private hospitals? How have you managed the financial crisis of layoffs and losses ?

The lockdown and restrictions on movements at local, regional, national and international levels, have significantly reduced the number of people accessing hospitals. Latter part of March and the whole of April saw only urgent care and emergencies at most hospitals. As bulk of the costs associated with running a hospital are fixed in nature, the drop in revenue resulted in large losses. We have been able to manage the cashflows by cost reductions and deferrals with the support of all business associates and banks, and avoided layoffs at all levels, including contract employees.

Given the COVID-19 preparedness, it requires additional resources, more of manpower, investment in more of consumables, etc. How do you address this burden ?

Additional consumables in the form of PPEs, extra rounds of sanitisations and cleanings and reduced duty times for healthcare personnel are all required while handling Covid cases. These ofcourse add to the costs and have been incurred without any hesitation. That has in turn ensured that all our people remained safe.

What are the other challenges that you are facing in COVID-19 scenario?

Considering the large proportion of asymptomatic Covid cases, all hospitals have to remain vigilant in following safety protocols. It is very possible that a patient who visited the hospital for a completely unrelated complaint could end up being discovered as Covid positive, and consequently impacting the safety of a large number of people - both healthcare personnel and others. Therefore, relentless adherence to safety protocols is mandatory.

Another challenge is to see that during this pandemic phase we ensure continuity of care for other sick people. For example, patients who are on dialysis or on similar long term therapies should have the access to hospitals, so that their treatment is not compromised.

Lessons learn from Covid-19 and your initiatives for the 'new normal' ?

Many of the current norms of social distancing, sanitisation and safety protocols like masking are here to stay for a while, well beyond the Covid period. In a densely populated country like ours, especially in our cities, that would really require a major effort in education as well as a change in mindset.

For the healthcare sector, digital routes to care delivery would become more accepted by both consumers and providers. This in turn could benefit the large swathes of the country that are currently under served in healthcare.

Your expectations from the government to ease the crisis?

I think the Government has already taken a few early steps to address some of the immediate concerns. Rebuilding the economy would be a medium term effort and this crisis is also an opportunity for India to position itself investment destination in the region. As for healthcare sector, the last 6 weeks have shown that States that have strong primary healthcare systems and focus have been able to handle the pandemic much better, and hopefully that would spur a re-look at our whole healthcare infrastructure across all levels and result in the much needed investment in the sector, including in preventive and promotive care.

This pandemic has certainly tested our mettle. While everybody in the sector - from across the spectrum, came together to do the best that we could, and commendable job was done especially by our doctors and nurses, we also identified gaps that need to get plugged as we move beyond Covid. We should not be remiss in acting on those learnings once we are past the crisis. And we will be better prepared for similar challenges that lie ahead.

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